The two towers of time

As a small cultural add-on to my week of culinary fun, I am planning to visit a number of sights and locations in Beijing. These will tend to be low-key, near meals and / or cooking, and hopefully fairly verdant. The first, not too far off from Black Sesame Kitchen, are the Drum and Bell Towers, on the northern part of the North-South Central Line that runs through the heart of Beijing, including the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

First up is the Drum Tower. This tower is imposing yet has some architectural panache. As I enter it, I come to a very steep set of stairs, with ample warning. These are so steep I cannot even get a proper picture.

After making my way up the 100+ stairs, I am rewarded with gorgeous views of Beijing, especially of the south. I can make out the building on the top of Jingshan Park, just north of the Forbidden City. I can also, sadly, make out the ridiculous Beijing traffic and the oh-so-related Beijing smog.

Inside the tower, there is a neat historical explanation of the roles that the drums played in announcing time to the citizens of Beijing. There are a set of 25 drums, 1 major and 24 minor, that, when played in certain sequences, made sure that everyone had the right hour. There were also several other timepieces inside, including one that used the flow of water to mark the passage of time. I presume these helped the drum tower attendants know when the bang the drums.

I was fortunate in that I arrived just before the 4:30pm drum performance, which was neat to see. Five gentlemen came out and played a rhythmic tune on the drums, steadily reaching a crescendo that rocked the place.

Once I solve the video upload problem, live action of the drummers drumming will appear here.

From percussion to metal. I scrambled down the stairs, across the square, and up to the Bell Tower.

This was a massive bell, more than 7 meters tall and 63 tons in weight (yes, 63 tons, or more than 126,000 pounds). It was large. It had a huge wooden stick, using for gonging the bell (unfortunately, no live performance). There were also cool stories about its casting. Apparently, the bellsmiths were struggling to cast a bell so large, and were at risk of beheading if they didn't hurry up and finish the job for the emperor. The daughter of the head bellsmith, sensing the challenge, jumped into the iron foundry to balance the spiritual aspect of casting the bell. It was cast at the last moment, and a small temple built in her honor.

I had thought that these two towers would provide excellent views of the city. I hadn't realized that they would also provide interesting insights into the telling of time in ages past.